Navigator 6.3 alpha 1 is out -- major awesomeness!

[Geoff Canyon]

As usual, you can get Navigator here
<https://www.dropbox.com/s/kz3zqi4botzglgq/navigator.zip?dl=1>. Or grab it
from GitHub <https://github.com/gcanyon/navigator>.

I'm stunned at the impact this update to Navigator has had for me. I'm
excited to post this update. While I was building the Size/Location Editor
I had to repeatedly edit the rects and locations of the various bits, and
edit the tooltips, and the colors, etc. etc. Each time I would open the
editor, which is a modal within Navigator. So: Open the editor; make a
change, close the editor; change the selection; open the editor; make a
change...

I thought of making the editor slide out and leave the Navigator list
accessible, but the geometry of that is tough -- what if Navigator is
already at the right side of the display? Finally, I settled on separate
palettes, and it turned out to be easier than I thought, and the end result
is (to me) amazing. My workflow is much faster and smoother than before.
The original behavior is still available, but palettes are it for me going
forward; it's just too easy. So here's the description, followed by other
updates included:

gc


The Color Editor, the Size/Location Editor, the Property Editor, the Custom
Property Editor, and the Command Panel all now display a description of the
controls that will be affected, in the form of the name and ID of the
primary control (the one from which color values etc. are displayed)
followed by the number of additional controls selected for modification.

The Color Editor, the Size/Location Editor, the Property Editor, and the
Command Panel, but *not* the Custom Property Editor, all now have a
"Palette" button that opens them in separate palette windows. These windows
can be minimized like standard Navigator windows, and the Property Editor
and Command Panel can be resized as needed.

These new palettes will automatically update to reflect whatever the latest
selection is in any open Navigator window. So you can select three
controls, adjust their size in the Size/Location Editor, then select two
different controls in a different Navigator window and the Size/Location
Editor will immediately update to reflect that selection, and those two
controls can be resized.

It's also possible to change the primary control just by clicking a new
control among the highlighted controls, which won't change the highlights,
just the primary control.

The Preference dialog has a setting for "Editors as Palettes" that will
cause the editors to always open as palettes. Whatever the setting, you can
get the opposite by holding down the option/alt key while opening the
editors.

This feature is new, and *very* powerful/dangerous. If you don't keep track
of what controls Navigator wants to modify, you can do some serious damage
really quickly. In my testing, the selection hasn't ever been wrong, but
it's fairly easy not to realize that the selection has changed, even though
all four palettes list what is being edited at the top of the palettes. BE
CAREFUL WITH THIS FEATURE. But boy oh boy it's a lot of fun!

You can also have the palette open and then select the commands again and
have the editor open in Navigator the way it has historically while the
palette is still open. This is fine, albeit a little confusing.

The Stacks menu now has options for Show IDE Stacks and Show Script-Only
Stacks. These affect what the menu displays, and also what the Stack List
displays.

The Cards menu now has options for Card List and Background List. These
control what the menu displays and what shows in Navigator. So selecting
Background List will cause Navigator to display a list of the backgrounds,
and also the next time the menu is opened it will display a list of
backgrounds.

Fixed a bug where the HTMLText caused the Property Editor to add a spurious
line to its edit list.

Added a list of properties to display for Widgets (which previously
displayed no properties). The list of properties is updatable in the
Preferences.

To-dos include:
 -- a button in the palettes to switch back from the palette to the
built-in editor
 -- making custom properties work in palette form -- should this be a
separate (fifth) palette, or just an option in the properties palette?
 -- adding a Reset button to the properties/custom properties palette.
There is no way to add a Reset button to the Command Panel.
 -- better documentation for the Command Panel.
 -- cleaning up the palettes -- each is just a stripped-down copy of
Navigator, and some have not had as many unnecessary controls removed as
others.
 -- better organization options for the palettes.
 -- option to lock a palette to a selection? Not sure.
 -- Saving Commands is broken. Need to rework that entirely.